Quick Add

Quick Add is PrimeTask's fastest way to capture a task. Press ⌘+⇧+A (or Ctrl+⇧+A on Windows) from anywhere, type a natural-language line, and hit Enter. PrimeTask parses dates, priorities, tags, projects, assignees, statuses, durations, recurrence, reminders, CRM links, and Apple sync flags - all from the text you type. Everything that isn't a recognised token becomes the task title.

As you type, a live preview shows what PrimeTask has parsed - date chips, priority indicators, tag badges - so you can confirm the parsing before you hit Enter.

What you can do

How to open Quick Add

Press ⌘+⇧+A (macOS) or Ctrl+⇧+A (Windows) from anywhere in PrimeTask. The overlay opens instantly, ready for you to type. The shortcut is customisable from the Shortcuts tab in Automations Settings.

Complete syntax reference

Due date - natural language

Just type a date expression anywhere in your input. PrimeTask recognises it automatically.

Relative dates:

• today, tomorrow, yesterday
• next friday, next week, next month, next year
• this week, this friday, this month
• in 3 days, in 2 weeks

Specific dates:

• dec 25, 25 dec, jan 15, 15 january
• 2027-02-14 (ISO format)

Past dates:

• last monday, last week, last month, last year
• 3 days ago, 2 weeks ago, 1 month ago

With times:

• tomorrow 3pm, friday at 14:30, tomorrow noon
• tonight, noon, midnight
• 5pm, 17:25, 3:30pm - bare times anchor to today, and bump to tomorrow if the time has already passed

Quick shortcuts:

• eod - end of day (5pm)
• eow - end of week (Friday)
• eom - end of month (last day)
• eoy - end of year (December 31)

Start date - start: prefix

Set when a task should begin:

• start:monday, start:tomorrow, start:next-friday
• start:dec25, start:2027-02-14
• start:14:30, start:3pm, start:noon
• start:monday at 14:30, start:tomorrow 9am

Priority - ! prefix

Custom priority names also work - !critical matches a priority named "Critical" if you've created one. See Custom Statuses & Priorities.

Tags - # prefix

• #bug, #urgent, #frontend
• #"multi word tag" - quote for spaces
• Multiple tags: #bug #frontend #mobile

Tags that don't exist yet are created automatically when you save the task.

Project - @ prefix

• @mobile, @backend
• @"Project Alpha" - quote for spaces

Fuzzy matched - @mobi finds "Mobile App".

Assignee - + prefix

• +sarah, +john
• +"John Smith" - quote for full names
• Multiple assignees: +sarah +john +alex

Matched against CRM contacts in your Space. See Contacts & Tasks.

CRM Contact - & prefix Pro

• &sarah, &"John Smith"
• Multiple: &sarah &john

Links the task to CRM contacts - the task becomes a CRM task and appears on the contact's detail page. See CRM Tasks.

CRM Company - % prefix Pro

• %acme, %"Acme Corp"
• Multiple: %acme %stripe

Links the task to CRM companies. See CRM Tasks.

Status - :: prefix

Custom status names also work - ::review matches "In Review" if you've created it. See Custom Statuses & Priorities.

Duration - ~ prefix

• ~30m - 30 minutes
• ~2h - 2 hours
• ~1.5h - 1 hour 30 minutes
• ~1d - 1 day

Recurrence - every keyword

• every day, every week, every month, every year
• every 2 weeks, every 3 months
• every weekday or every workday - Monday to Friday
• every monday, every fri
• every mon,wed,fri - specific days
• every monday and friday - spelled out
• every day except sat,sun - daily excluding weekends

See Recurring Tasks for how recurrence works after the task is created.

Reminders - remind: prefix

Set one or more reminders for a task, each as its own remind: token:

• remind:30m - 30 minutes before the due date
• remind:1h - 1 hour before
• remind:2d - 2 days before
• remind:9am - at 9 AM on the due day
• remind:14:30 - at 2:30 PM on the due day
• Multiple: remind:1h remind:30m - both fire on the same task

Reminders work without a due date. Type Pick up milk remind:30m (no date) and the reminder fires 30 minutes after you create the task. Useful for in-the-moment nudges where the task doesn't really have a deadline.

Where reminders fire. Each reminder shows up at its scheduled moment in three places: the in-app bell dropdown, your operating system's native notification banner, and an on-screen toast (if you have toasts enabled). When a reminder fires you can Dismiss it, Mark the task done, open the task, or Snooze 15 minutes. See Notifications Settings for toast configuration and Task Reminders for the full reminder lifecycle.

You can also add or edit reminders from inside any task - open the task and use the bell control next to the duration setting. Quick Add is fastest for new tasks; the in-task control is best for refining or adding reminders later. See Task Reminders.

The Quick Add preview shows the exact fire time for every reminder before you press Enter.

Description - | or // suffix

Everything after | or // becomes the task description (not the title):

• Review slides | Check spelling and timing
• Sprint retro // Discuss wins and improvements

Apple sync flags - !cal and !rem

• !cal or !calendar - sync to Apple Calendar (macOS only)
• !rem or !reminder or !reminders - sync to Apple Reminders (macOS only)

Requires the matching integration to be enabled. See Integrations Settings.

Templates - save: and /shortcut

Save a template: Type save:name your template text and the text is saved as a reusable template named name.

Use a template: Type /name and the template expands into its full text. Edit before pressing Enter if needed.

Manage templates from Quick Add Settings.

Real-world examples

Simple everyday tasks

• Buy groceries tomorrow → title: "Buy groceries", due: tomorrow
• Call mom tonight → title: "Call mom", due: today 8pm
• Pay rent eom → title: "Pay rent", due: end of month

Work tasks with full context

• @mobile Fix navbar bug !high +sarah #bug ~1h → project: Mobile, priority: High, assignee: Sarah, tag: #bug, duration: 1 hour
• Review Q3 proposal next friday at 3pm @"Project Alpha" !urgent → due: next Friday 3pm, project: Project Alpha, priority: Urgent
• ::ip Update user docs #documentation ~2h start:today → status: In Progress, tag: #documentation, duration: 2 hours, start: today

CRM-linked tasks

• &"John Smith" %"Acme Corp" Send pricing proposal tomorrow !high → CRM task linked to John and Acme, due tomorrow, high priority
• Follow up +me &sarah about renewal next week #sales → assigned to me, linked to Sarah's CRM record, tag: #sales, due next week

Recurring tasks

• every weekday Check emails eod → daily Mon–Fri, due at 5pm
• Weekly team standup every monday 10am @Work #meetings ~30m → every Monday at 10am, project: Work, tag: #meetings, 30 min
• every month Pay invoice eom !high remind:2d → monthly at end of month, high priority, reminder 2 days before

With Apple sync

• Team standup tomorrow 10am !cal !rem → due tomorrow 10am, synced to Apple Calendar AND Apple Reminders
• Dentist appointment next tuesday 2pm !calendar remind:1h → synced to Calendar, reminder 1 hour before

With descriptions

• Review slides for keynote tomorrow | Check transitions, timing, and speaker notes → title + description separated by |
• Sprint retro friday 4pm @Work // What went well? What to improve? Action items. → description after //

Complex combined example

@"Project Zenith" !urgent Fix critical auth bug +sarah +alex &"Beta Corp"
tomorrow 9am #bug #security ~4h start:today remind:1h !cal
every week | Investigate token expiry and refresh flow

This single line creates a task with: project, urgent priority, two assignees, CRM company link, due date + time, start date, two tags, duration, reminder, Apple Calendar sync, weekly recurrence, and a description.

Things worth knowing

Token order doesn't matter

Tokens can appear anywhere in the input - beginning, middle, or end. These are all equivalent:

• tomorrow Review slides !high
• Review slides tomorrow !high
• !high Review slides tomorrow

Everything is case-insensitive

!HIGH = !high, #Bug = #bug, @PROJECT = @project, TOMORROW = tomorrow.

What becomes the title

Everything that isn't a recognised token becomes the task title. PrimeTask strips out the parsed tokens and uses the remaining text.

Unmatched tokens are handled gracefully

If you type !xyz and no priority named "xyz" exists, the preview shows a warning. The task still creates - the unmatched token is removed from the title. Tags that don't exist are created automatically.

Preview shows what's parsed

As you type, the preview below the input shows parsed tokens as chips - due date, priority, tags, project, assignees. Check the preview before pressing Enter to confirm PrimeTask understood your input correctly.

Ghost text autocomplete

As you type, faded suggestion text appears after your cursor for completable words - tom suggests orrow, eve suggests ry, mid suggests night. Press Tab to accept the suggestion.

Keep-open mode for batch entry

When you want to capture a list of tasks back-to-back without touching the mouse, turn on Stay open mode. There are two ways to flip it:

• From inside Quick Add - click the Stay open pin button at the bottom of the overlay. A toast confirms the change. The overlay then keeps itself open after each task you create, clears the input, and re-focuses it for the next one.
• From Settings - open Settings → Quick Add → Keep open after creating. Same setting, same effect.

The two surfaces are kept in sync; flipping it from either place persists across sessions.

Great for brainstorming sprints - open Quick Add, click Stay open, then fire off Refactor auth #urgent !high tomorrow → Enter → next task → Enter → next task. Mouse never moves.

Common questions

Where to go next